The establishment of schools in Bucks County will be discussed (1) under the head of the monthly meetings therein situated and (2) in the order of their establishment in point of time. The several monthly meetings and their dates of establishment, respectively, are as follows: Falls, 1683; Middletown, 1683 (known as Neshaminy until 1706); Buckingham, set off from Falls, 1720; Wrightstown, set off from Buckingham, 1734; and Richland, set off from Gwynedd (in Montgomery County) in 1742.[347] Of these meetings, all were a part of Bucks Quarterly Meeting save Richland, which belonged to that of Abington.[348]

The first way in which the early Quakers usually looked after education was to arrange for a useful apprenticeship suitable to the individual, which was calculated to enable him or her to earn a living. The moral training was always considered when an apprentice was to be placed. The placing of youths as apprentices was in the charge of Friends appointed by the monthly meeting. The early records of Falls Monthly Meeting show them active in regard to this type of education. In 1704 this report was made before the meeting.

A similar one of 1714 points out the continued interest and attention in that respect.

Another phase of education, more particularly the moral, was cared for in the youths’ meetings, which were established at intervals, usually not more than four or five times during the year. It was the practice for the youths’ meetings to be established by the quarterly meetings, in conjunction with representatives of the monthly meetings. In 1713, Bucks Quarterly took up the re-establishment of those within their limits, and ordered them accordingly, as the following extract states.

To locate the date of the first school at Falls is difficult; it seems impossible to do so from the information to be gleaned from the records. We may be certain, however, that there was a school in the neighborhood at a very early date, though we can hardly determine the year. In 1730 the following request was made of the meeting:

The presence in their vicinity, of an old schoolhouse which, moreover, needed repairs before it could be used, would indicate that a school had been there for a number of years. Taking fifteen years as a very moderate span for the life of the building, before it should need any considerable repairs we could state with a good degree of assurance that the school building had probably been built not later than 1715, and that the school dated back to that time at the very latest.[353] But at the next meeting this encounters a very dangerous obstruction. That meeting, referring to the request of the seventh month, second, speaks of “the request about having the old meetinghouse,” instead of, old schoolhouse.[354] It further mentions that it was desired for the purpose of a school.[355] From this it appears that the truth of our above conclusion depends upon the accuracy of the records for seventh month, second, 1730 and for eighth month, seventh, 1730. If the record of the first date is correct our conclusion is unfounded and the date for the first established school can probably be placed about 1730, or shortly thereafter.[356]

The records for the next thirty years reveal but little of the activities of the schools in Falls Monthly Meeting, though we are led to believe them in continuance, but perhaps not regularly. In 1759 the meeting had agreed to allow a house to be built on their grounds for the accommodation of a school master, but the house was not built there, since Mahlon Kirkbride had already purchased some adjoining ground on which there was a house built for that purpose.[357] The said Kirkbride offered to convey the same property to some Friends, in trust for the meeting, and Robert Lucas, Story Kirkbride, Mahlon Kirkbride, Jr., Jonathan Palmer, Jr., and Edward Bayly, Jr., were appointed to receive the conveyance. This is the first record of any permanent benefaction received. In 1783 the urgent Advices of the Yearly Meeting being brought to their attention,[358] a committee was appointed which reported the results of their investigation up to that time in the following manner.

In accord with the above report the monthly meeting urged each preparative meeting to appoint a committee on schools; the monthly meeting named James Moon, John Merrick, Jonathan Kirkbride, William Satterthwaite, William Bidgood, Jr., John Stapler and Joseph Gillingham to join with those of the preparatives for that service.[360] Five months thereafter they reported,

The three preparative meetings were Falls, Makefield, and Bristol, the last named being transferred to Middletown in 1788.[362] Makefield Meeting was considerably assisted by help from private sources; they reported to the monthly meeting in 1787:

In 1790 a committee of the quarterly meeting was appointed to confer with those of the monthly meetings on schools, hoping that the union of all might be more productive of results than all working separately.[364] In 1794 plans were set on foot for a new schoolhouse at Falls Preparative, said house to be two stories in height and about twenty-two feet by thirty.[365] It was to be placed “near the line” of the meeting’s land at the west end of the meeting house. The monthly meeting was to pay £75, the employers who are members, £75, and the school committee £50 from the money arising from donations left for the purposes of schools. The house was not built until 1799, due to some unknown delay; its dimensions were twenty-four by twenty-six feet, one story high, with a cellar of the same dimensions.[366]

In 1797 the attention of the monthly meeting was called to the proposals of the yearly meeting for the founding of a boarding school.[367] Copies of the printed rules proposed for its government had been received, and a committee was appointed to distribute them and to take subscriptions from any who were interested to contribute.[368]

The problem of school support occupied a considerable part of Falls Meeting’s time. The means of support were here, as in others already mentioned, (1) subscriptions, (2) donations and (3) rates. In 1760 it was considered necessary to appoint a committee of fourteen members to take an inventory of all legacies and donations, lands and benefactions which had been left to the meeting.[369] Some had been given for definitely stated uses; and others allowed the application to be determined by the members of the meeting. It was the will of the assembly that the committee appointed should especially determine what funds might be applied to the use of the schools. They reported at the next meeting that the legacy left by Elinor Bryner might be applied to the use of schools, along with those given definitely for that purpose.[370] The method by which the funds were to be applied to that use were indicated in the suggestions of the committee at a later meeting, as follows:

Such a plan as here indicated was consistently followed throughout the century in regard to school support. The interest on legacies had to be paid annually.[372]

In 1781 the meeting was advised that Samuel Rhoads of Philadelphia had offered to sell four acres of ground adjoining the schoolhouse lot, to be used for the promotion of the school, and the benefit of the schoolmasters.[373] The consideration asked was £60, and Rhoads and his two brothers-in-law, Joseph Pemberton and Samuel Pleasants, offered to donate £20, making it cost the meeting but £40. The committee on school support was directed to consider this proposal. Bristol Preparative also received very valuable assistance for the use of poor children’s schooling, in the bequest of £50 Pennsylvania currency which was left them by John Baldwin of Philadelphia.[374] The great concern of the meeting for the best expenditure of these donations for educating not only the poor Whites but also the Negroes, is seen in their minute of 1787.[375] Careful account was kept and the accounts frequently audited, sometimes at the request of individuals.[376] In 1790 the committee reported their concerns as follows:

The establishment of these permanent funds was frequently expressed by the numerous committees as the most important consideration for the execution of the school idea. They attempted again and again to provide a uniform means of establishing such funds, but due to the unequal circumstances of the several meetings it was impossible to do so.[378] The uniform plan was kept as an ideal to be striven for and recommended to the quarterly meeting for its advisement in the matter;[379] in the meantime individual contributions were urged on all who felt inclined to endow a worthy cause.[380] The amounts given were frequent though small, many of them being about £5.[381]

In addition to the local expenses of the meetings, (1) for worship, (2) for the use of schools, (3) for the maintenance of the poor, etc., there were also quotas to be raised for the yearly meeting stock, which added materially to the burden of each of the preparative meetings. The quota for the meetings belonging to Falls in 1797 was £500.[382]

If we may look over the Quaker treasurer’s shoulder as he runs his accounts at the end of the century, we find him situated financially as follows:

The Middletown Meeting began its educational work more promptly than did Falls.[384] Ten years after the first establishment of the meeting a request was brought forward as follows:

It is quite probable that the school established as requested, was a temporary and irregular affair, depending on the will of the individual patrons. Certainly, it had not any official connection with the meeting, and probably did not have for many years. In 1699, a request similar to that of 1693 was made by Thomas Stackhouse and others, desiring the use of the meeting house for a schoolmaster,[386] which implies they had not advanced much beyond their state of 1693. This request was likewise granted, provided no hindrance be caused to the meetings.

Because of very inadequate records in this regard, much is left to be surmised concerning the continuation of the schools thus early begun. The meeting was in continual touch with the desires and proposals of the yearly meeting,[387] and it does not seem justifiable to suppose that education languished, because scant records of it remain. The general tone of their minutes is one of self-satisfaction, and implies that they themselves were well pleased with their state. The elaborate recommendations of the yearly meeting in 1750[388] did not meet with their approval as they thought it quite impossible for those members living remote in the country districts.[389] That they disagreed with the plan indicates neither a lack of interest in the subject, nor a lack of schools in their locality. Rather, it may indicate the opposite.

In 1755 there was made the first donation to a permanent foundation for a free school. At a meeting in that year an extract of Adam Harker’s will was produced, where it appeared he had,

Whether there was a new school erected as a result of the bequest or whether it was turned to the use of one already existing does not appear; the latter suggestion is much the more probable. The advices of 1777 and 1778 and the years following aroused the members to the responsibilities which they must accept. In 1779 they made report as follows:

And in 1780:

All questions in regard to schools or educational affairs whatsoever were dismissed summarily, and given to the charge of the committee on schools.[393] A committee reported in 1782 that nothing had been done more than to visit the school they already had.[394] The failure to bring forth results may have been with the committee; at any rate the meeting decided to try a new one.

In 1785 this committee reported that visits had been made to families in the interests of education but that little was effected.[396] The committee was released and the consideration of education left to the next meeting,[397] at which a new committee of three was appointed. This one, so far as their record goes, was neither more active nor more successful than the others. In 1788 they report “nothing much has been done in respect to schools since last year,” which report was sent to the yearly meeting.[398] The record is not complete to the end of the century, but for the period considered does not offer any evidence of more than passing educational interest and activity. Nothing unusual is to be noted in the finance and support of the school at Middletown. Mention was made of Harker’s will, which, it seems, was the first legacy left to its benefit.[399]

The attention of the meeting was early given to the care of the orphans and the poor, and especially to their satisfactory placement among people as apprentices. The following from the records for 1699 will serve for illustration.

The attention of Buckingham Meeting was also turned toward the education of apprentices, and careful scrutiny given those who removed to apprentice themselves elsewhere, as also those who removed to Buckingham Meeting. In 1764 Mahlon Michener, son of John, removed his certificate to Philadelphia, “having been placed as apprentice” in the vicinity of that meeting.[400] John Parry, minor, an apprentice to Thomas Fell, blacksmith, produced a certificate in Abington Monthly,[401] which was accepted and also that of Isaac Gommere from the same place.[402] The poor were provided for by the legacy left for that purpose by John Holcomb in 1749.[403] Whether this might, a part of it, have been spent for schooling is not known.

In 1755 there was a minute entered in the records to the effect that a legacy had been left to Buckingham by their deceased friend Adam Harker, for the purpose of establishing a free school in that place.[404] The amount of the bequest was the same (£40) as that left to the Middletown Meeting by Harker.[405] This was the first bequest for definite school purposes; the indications are that many followed. In 1778, a minute gives their financial status as £244/4/11½ and they entertained a proposition and concluded to raise £500 more.[406] At the same time, the recommendations from the yearly meeting being read,[407] a committee of the following persons was appointed for investigation and assistance on the subject of schools, viz.: Paul Preston, Joseph Watson, Joseph Preston, John Gillingham, Benjamin Paxson, Benjamin Kinsey, Thomas Watson, Joseph Eastburn, John Kinsey, John Balderston, Jonathan Shaw, Benjamin Cutler, Thomas Good, Jr., John Brown, and Robert Kirkbride.[408] The action of this committee is not brought out in the minutes of the meeting.

The quarterly meeting made a new appeal in 1780 for a more decided action by the various tributary meetings which was followed by the appointment of a new committee.[409] They were requested to “visit the school” for the “help and assistance” of the master and to report their action to a future meeting. In the twelfth month of the same year they made these recommendations:

A new committee was appointed in 1784.[411] They convened with the committees of the preparatives and discussed the recommendations and means suggested by the yearly meeting. Their conclusion was to the effect that one thing in the recommendations was absolutely necessary, namely, that all funds, legacies, properties, etc., provided for the schools, should be vested in trustees for that purpose.[412] Without taking this step they saw no way to attain even the least success. It was further suggested that the trustees or committee thus appointed should investigate the present houses for schools, their condition and location, in each of the particular meetings, that a wiser plan might be followed in locating the new ones. The meeting considering the report decided to adopt its suggestions and accordingly appointed thirteen men,

and make a report as soon as possible.[413] Its report, produced in the first month, 1785, was quite long. Only the essential points of it are given in the following digest.[414]

1. Most of the committee appointed met and decided to confirm the former committee’s report.

2. We find that there are many schoolhouses within the bounds that include the members of the meeting.

3. They suggest that these two houses be used as previously and that new houses be erected not more than three miles apart.

4. They maintain an uncertain state has prevailed among the schools.

5. The following places are recommended for new schools to be built:

It was thought such divisions would as nearly answer the needs as rivers and mountains would permit, and would provide for all of Buckingham territory and a little of Wrightstown. Any variation from this proposed building plan was desired to be brought before the committee for their judgment and acquiescence. In accordance with this suggestion the Friends of Solebury (1785) requested the assistance and advice of the committee in locating their school which they desired in a different place from that previously suggested by the committee. They conferred with the committee and finding their choice of site as good as could be obtained, it was agreed to build the new house on the southeast corner of Hugh Ely’s land, of Solebury.[416] In 1786 Solebury Friends requested a committee of the monthly meeting to be named to whom they might give a title for the land.[417] In 1793 Buckingham was permitted to build a school on the meeting house land, the meeting to be in charge of the said school.[418]

Having settled thus satisfactorily a systematic method of getting the schools located, they addressed themselves to the task of raising school funds.[419] A committee of eleven members was appointed, which, four months later, reported a plan of subscription paper to be used in getting funds for purchasing lands and buildings.[420] The plan as reported and approved by the monthly meeting was the following:

In 1790 the state of schools in the monthly meeting was given as follows:

The form of subscription above mentioned was used for raising funds till 1793 when a committee on schools incorporated it with a few other suggestions in their plans.[422] These may be summarized as follows: